A Company that can both respond to change and new levels of achievement has to have a history of strengths. Four Star has a history of profitability and very good people. The people are smart, they are talented, they can think through the strategic issues, and they are skilled in their on-site customer relations.

The challenges the new president faced the first quarter were many, however. While the new president is a strong corporate guy, the predecessor was the owner/entrepreneur. The entrepreneur maintained the growth and profitability of the company. He was flexible and willing to take risks to grow the company, or to pull back during market downturns. His style was dominant, assertive, hands on, wanting access to everyone in order to get the information he needed to make necessary decisions. He wanted to select the best people for the job. Although he needed to continually improve his communication and relationships with employees, he understood that this was an area that required work and he made the effort.

New President

The new President wanted more of a team approach. He rallied the senior executives to form a team that met weekly to address broad corporate issues and to work together to solve problems that affected each division. This kind of teamwork at the executive level was a first for the company.

The new president thought through issues carefully and valued input from many different sources. He has vision and can think through the complexities of issues. He is very experienced in the business, is focused with strong people interests and insight into the organization. He is trusting and has built trust within the organization. At times though he can be naive, and slow to face conflicts. When he does face these issues, he is very effective.

Consultant Plan

The President faced many challenges, the first being accepted by company employees as their new leader, and secondarily opening up communication both vertically and horizontally in the organization. There were the constant challenges of increasing sales, as well as increasing margins.

As the consultant, working with the president, a one-year plan was devised with the following objectives:

1. Open up communication about critical issues with senior and middle managers
2. Support for the senior managers as they cope with the demands of the acquisition plus maintaining sales and increasing margins.
3. Involve middle managers in the process so that they can instantly begin to understand the issues, explaining and working with employees.
4. Open up information to the leadership of the organization so that they have information needed to make better decisions.

The predecessor, the entrepreneurial president, lead the transition for the changes. He and other leaders, senior and middle managers, reviewed the history of the company, a 30+-year-old company. A group of 40 participants worked in small groups, to identify the values, skills and objectives from the past that were important for the future, revising the new goals for the company. This again was a great opportunity for the middle managers to both learn and participate in the issues of the day. The new president closed the session, moving the company into the next stage.

Senior Management Team

The new president selected his senior management team. Because this group had never worked together as a team and serious conflicts existed, a program was developed which would facilitate communication, address conflict and encourage group cohesion.

1. The consultant set up team sessions with the new President and senior management, using the Birkman Method so that they could get to know each other and develop trust within the team.
2. The consultant facilitated discussions with senior management
3. Breakthroughs came when the team faced and found creative solutions to an old problemÉchanging the estimating department. This was the breakthrough from the old culture. Avoidance gave way to solutions.
4. Serious conflicts between executives were minimized. The conflicts reflected deep differences between departments as well as individuals.
5. Consultant facilitation maintained focus on the major issues rather than the details.

The Second Quarter: 1 day session of middle and senior managers.

Sharing of Financial Reports

The second quarter focused on the sharing of financial reports for the quarter with the total group, including the middle managers. This was a first for the company. This session was a big risk for senior managers, who struggled with trust issues. They were concerned that the middle managers would not keep the data confidential. In the end, there were no violations of confidentiality by the middle managers. Each manager of a business unit reviewed the financial reports for their operations, including how well they met their goals. This was most illuminating as the humblest performed very well. By the close of the day, it was very clear by both the body language and the group dialogue that the new president had won over the loyalty and support of this group of leaders.

A Coaching Program For The Senior Managers

The main objective of the coaching program was to provide an opportunity for senior mangers to evaluate their professional development so that they could better achieve corporate goals. Executives perform at higher level when they have enough support as the address critical changes.

• One manager focused on the development of marketing skills for himself and his team located in a regional office. With the support of the coach they developed a marketing plan, increasing their client base.
• Another manager focused on relationships and communication skills, and worked effectively with individuals who had difficult styles.
• Another focused on departmental goals, clarifying these goals both within his department and throughout the company, encouraging teamwork and cooperation. He achieved his goals.
• Overall, 70% of the mangers made significant gains.

The Third Quarter: 1-Day Session with senior and middle managers.

The Safety Session

This program focused on safety and related issues. The Safety Director gave an excellent presentation, not only presenting information, but also dialoguing with the superintendents directly about the gains they have made, acknowledging their contributions to successful projects. The Safety Director, tactfully but directly, spoke with one superintendent about his resistance to safety. This superintendent was not only resistant about safety, but his project was failing. This superintendent resigned by the end of the day. This was not an intended objective, but the result of a changing culture.

The group demonstrated improved communication skills in this session. The group was capable of discussing serious issues in large groups of 40 people. The failure of a large-scale mechanical project started an organizational focus on this issue for the next quarter.

Business Development - The old system crashed

A short term coaching program was set up for the Business Development Group. Background: The coaching efforts, although helpful to individuals, were not effective due to the many organizational issues that surfaced during the program.

• This department was simmering in change, with a new Vice President of Business Development. Although he upgraded the professionalism of the department, he had a major organizational issue that took a year to resolve. He did not have formal authority with the B.D. Professionals, only a persuasive role. Each professional was under the formal control of a regional officer or manager. There were constant conflicts between using the B.D. professional to achieve B.D. goals or for operations work with customers.
• The President of the acquiring company broke up Four Stars successful regional marketing team. The acquiring company felt that the Four Star was preventing a failing company within the acquisition system from getting new business.
• Two B.D. professionals left the company rather than move to headquarters which was located in a small community in the western part of the country.
• Internal coordination improved between Business Development and Estimating, which utilized the company's resources more efficiently.

Summary

My observation of other client companies shows a similar pattern of rethinking Business Development. The traditional systems are no longer effective. Four Star was ahead of the game as they coped to initiate systems to facilitate and maintain effective business relationship with both new and established customers.

Managers: Managers need to think and work together, to take risks and be creative about finding new ways to solve old problems. Without this change of style, managers can fall into patterns of avoidance.

Communication: Vertical communication is the most challenging in an organization. Even though senior managers believe in the importance of communication, most are to slow to communicate in a significant way with middle mangers.

Conficts: Conflicts, while partly reflecting the differences between individuals, also reflect deep unresolved issues between departments.